The Morning Wire / Thu Oct 29, 2026

The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Thu, Oct 29

● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed

← Oct 28Oct 29latest →

The market in a line

Thu, Oct 29

Choice cutout closed $1.72 lower at $367.28. 32 barns across 15 states reported 2,117 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Oct 26 USDA

Weighted across every reported lot, by weight class. Weekly rather than daily — one day's barns are too thin a base for a national figure.

Weight	Price	vs prior week	Head	Barns
300-399 lb	539.05/cwt	$5.44 lower	4,346	147
400-499 lb	489.24/cwt	$0.64 higher	13,743	161
500-599 lb	435.15/cwt	$4.12 lower	26,594	163
600-699 lb	389.69/cwt	$2.39 lower	17,913	161
700-799 lb	354.97/cwt	$4.27 higher	9,016	143
800-899 lb	343.29/cwt	$3.06 higher	9,552	102

Barn by barn, 500–599 lb steers

Same day, same class USDA

Every barn that sold at least 20 head of this class on Thu, Oct 29, weighted by head. Spread of $79.46 between the top and bottom of 20 barns. An average moves with the cattle that showed up as much as with the buyers in the seats — a yard with better grade will average higher on the same demand. This is where the money landed, not a verdict on the barn.

Barn	State	Average	Head
Ogallala	NE	467.57/cwt	1,258
Valentine	NE	465.91/cwt	845
Mobridge Livestock Exchange	SD	465.66/cwt	1,836
Winter Livestock - Pratt	KS	452.42/cwt	95
Stockmen's Livestock Exchange	ND	452.18/cwt	957
Napoleon Livestock Auction	ND	448.68/cwt	214
Lamoni Livestock Auction	IA	438.72/cwt	38
New Cambria Livestock Market	MO	437.00/cwt	107
Billings Livestock Commission	MT	435.63/cwt	820
Fairview Livestock Auction	IL	434.27/cwt	122
Apache Livestock Auction	OK	428.77/cwt	155
Farmers and Ranchers Livestock Commission - Kansas	KS	423.19/cwt	120
Mid Missouri Stockyards	MO	415.55/cwt	77
Wheeler Livestock Auction	MO	412.03/cwt	105
Dalhart Livestock Auction	TX	410.97/cwt	177
Mo-Kan Livestock Market	MO	408.10/cwt	61
Paris Livestock Auction	KY	399.53/cwt	116
Woodward Livestock Inc	OK	393.97/cwt	95
Benton County Sale Barn	AR	389.46/cwt	74
Stanford Livestock Auction	KY	388.11/cwt	56

Boxed beef

PM close · Oct 29 USDA

Choice $367.28, $1.72 lower. Select $351.63, $3.62 lower. The Choice–Select spread stands at $15.65. 101 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA

17,855 head traded Oct 23–Oct 29.

Region	Basis	Price	Head
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed Delivered	356.39	2,210
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed FOB	355.00	256
Iowa-Minnesota	Live Delivered	224.25	42
Iowa-Minnesota	Live FOB	223.81	6,750
Nebraska	Dressed Delivered	350.74	5,400
Nebraska	Dressed FOB	352.57	1,130

At the barns

USDA market reporters, as filed USDA

One barn per state, largest first — more states file than fit here. Your own state is linked below.

Compared to last Thursday: steers 400 to 649 lbs mostly steady with instances up to 10.00 lower on 450 to 499 lbs and 600 to 649 lbs. Heifers 400 to 449 lbs mostly steady, 450 to 599 lbs10.00 to 15.00 lower with instances up to 20.00 lower.
Mobridge Livestock Exchange · South Dakota

Compared to last week, steers were 10.00 - 20.00 lower and heifers were 3.00 - 20.00 lower except weights 400 - 500 was 10.00 - 20.00 higher and 550 was 3.00 higher. Demand was moderate to good. Large offering today and buyers were very selective.
Ogallala · Nebraska

Compared to last sale (10-22-26): Yearling cattle were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Steer calves under 400 lbs were too lightly tested last week to develop any market trend. Steer calves 400-449 lbs sold mostly 10.00 higher in a narrow comparison;
Billings Livestock Commission · Montana

*Pratt Livestock will have a special calf sale next Thursday November 5th Final Report * Compared to last week, feeder steers and heifers 600 lb to 975 sold steady to 8.00 lower. Not enough steers and heifers under 600 lb for a market test, however a lower trend was noted.
Winter Livestock - Pratt · Kansas

Compared to last week: Feeder steers and feeder heifers 5.00 to 10.00 lower. Steer calves and heifer calves under 500 lbs. 5.00 to 15.00 higher, over 500 lbs. 10.00 to 15.00 lower. Quality average to attractive with good demand. Slaughter cows 1.00 to 2.00 higher. Slaughter bulls 4.00 lower.
Apache Livestock Auction · Oklahoma

Compared to last week: Abundant rains in the area brought, not only stronger wheat, but reignited interest in lighter calves. Healthy, good quality steer calves weighing 350-500 pounds brought 40.00 higher on average. Yearling steers made a step back however; bringing 11.00-16.00 lower.
Dalhart Livestock Auction · Texas

No recently reported market for a price comparison, undertone higher. Really high quality offering this week featuring a number of reputation consignments. Not many calves on offer and only a small percentage of them long time weaned. Supply moderate, demand good to very good.
New Cambria Livestock Market · Missouri

Compared to last week's sale, Slaughter Steers and Heifers traded $5.00-$7.00 higher. Slaughter Dairy Cows traded $4.00-$6.00 lower. Feeder Dairy Calf Bulls traded $70.00-$90.00 higher while Beef Cross Calves were $30.00-$50.00 lower.
New Holland Sale Stables · Pennsylvania

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA

Class	Price	Direction	Head
Breaker (75% lean)	251.86/cwt	$7.57 higher	534
Boner (85% lean)	246.89/cwt	$4.42 lower	1,732
Cutter (90% lean)	250.79/cwt	$3.98 lower	3,756
Premium White	262.84/cwt	$1.79 lower	1,273
Bull (92% lean)	304.92/cwt	$4.97 lower	317

What published

See every report →

64 USDA reports carried this date — sale barns, state summaries, video and board sales, grain, hay and the national desks.

Source: USDA AMS. Every figure is USDA's as filed, and the direction words — higher, lower, steady— follow the arithmetic rather than an opinion. Quoted comment is the work of USDA market reporters, credited to the sale it came from. This is RaisedBeef's rendering of USDA data, not a copy of USDA's document and not endorsed by USDA.